NSW Premier Mike Baird is pressing ahead with a container deposit scheme in the face of opposition from the beverage industry with an election promise to introduce 800 reverse vending machines across NSW from July 2017.
Though the major beverages companies have yet to officially respond, Geoff Parker, CEO of peak body, the Australian Beverages Council, told Food & Drink Business that he could not yet comment as he was still in negotiations with the NSW government.
In December, however, he told Fairfax Media that the industry may initiate attack advertising during the March election if a container deposit recycling scheme got the green light.
“If voters are going to the next election, and the government proposes a highly expensive scheme, its important they know the ins and outs," Parker said at the time.
Last month, Gary Dawson of the Australian Food and Grocery Council flagged that the COAG Report, made public in December 2014, was based on four years of “exhaustive analysis” of the costs and benefits of policy options including Container Deposit Legislation (CDL).
“The COAG Report concluded that CDL - including reverse vending machine schemes - are many times more expensive than industry’s alternative, which was endorsed as the preferred approach,” he said.
Dawson also said that the industry would provide further detail on an alternative scheme in coming weeks, as requested by the NSW government.
“Industry continues to stand behind its scheme which not only meets the NSW Government’s environmental targets at a lower cost than a CDS, but also ensures that consumers are not unnecessarily penalised and jobs are not unnecessarily put at risk,” he said at the time.
The Baird Government now says its preferred model is a scheme in which consumers, or a charity of their choice, receive a small financial reward for depositing a drink container in a reverse vending machine - though it said it is open to better alternatives.
“We estimate that at least 800 reverse vending machines will be installed across NSW, offering communities the opportunity to be rewarded for contributing to positive environmental outcomes in the places where they are most needed,” Baird said.
Over the next 12 months, the NSW government said, it will consult with the community and industry on how we will implement a scheme, with the final design of the container deposit scheme to be announced in 2016.
It will include the use of reverse vending machines and the consultation with the community and industry will focus on the location of reverse vending machines; the incentive for community participation; the scope of containers to be redeemable under the scheme; and the involvement of local government and the recycling industry in the scheme.
SodaStream, meanwhile, has come out in support of the move. Myles Anceschi, SodaStream's Australian managing director says industry attitudes need to more closely align with consumer expectations.
“Consumers are willing and ready to recycle and do the right thing, it’s time that some of the biggest brands in the beverage industry did more than just encourage recycling, but actually incentivise it,” Anceschi said.
